Dr. Solange de Azambuja Lira

Dr. Solange de Azambuja LiraProfessional Title: ProfessorAreas of Academic Focus and Expertise:Sociolinguistics; Bilingual education; communication/linguistic barriers Brazilians face when seeking health care treatment; Portuguese as a heritage language.Area of Work and Concentration at Lesley: Sheltering content areas in English for bilingual learners; Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages-Theories and Methods; Bilingual Education.Representative List of Recent Courses Taught:Essential Linguistics; First and Second Language Acquisition and Oral Development; Sheltering Content Instruction in EnglishEducation: BA, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; MA, University of Delaware; PhD, University of Pennsylvania Representative List of Recent Publications / Exhibitions:

2013. Latino Narratives of Health and Illness: the interlace of three voices from the Brazilian Community with Dr. Branca Telles Ribeiro. 24th Portuguese Language and Cultures Conference. Lesley University. April 2013.

2013. Sheltered English Immersion in Your Math Class and the Mathematics Achievement Gap in Massachusetts. What it is Now and How it Will Impact You and your Classroom. With Dr. Sharyn Boornazian. Feature Speakers of the Association of Math Teachers of Massachusetts 2013 Winter Conference. Boston College.

2012 Critical Issues in the Assessment of English Language Learners Suspected of Having a Disability. Webinar presented with Professor Maria de Lourdes Serpa, January 31, 2012. Graduate School of Education-Lesley University.

2011 Found in Interpretation: The Role of Brazilian Medical Interpreters in Mediated Medical Encounters with Dr. Branca Telles Ribeiro (Lesley University) International Symposium on Human Rights and Quality of Life in The Portuguese Communities in The United States and Canada November 9-10, 2011. Cambridge, Massachusetts.

2010 An analysis of Communicative Styles of Brazilian Healthcare Providers in US Healthcare Settings. 8th Interdisciplinary Conference on Communication, Medicine and Ethics(COMET) (with B. Ribeiro) at Boston University on June 28, 2010.

Dr. Lira is the director of English Language Learning programs in the Graduate School of Education, and has overseen the development of Lesley University TESOL and Bilingual Education Programs in recent years. Her teaching at Lesley has been focused on the education of bilingual learners and how to how to teach English as a new language with the understanding that the maintenance and development of the first language is essential to the students’ achievement and well being. She has been a teacher educator for more than thirty years in Brazil and the USA. She strives to create a community of teachers that feels the need to teach culturally and linguistically diverse students and are eager to do so. She is an expert on professional development for K-12 teachers and has provided with other Lesley colleagues professional development for many Massachusetts school districts. Professor Lira is a native speaker of Brazilian Portuguese and proficient in Spanish and French.